Ex Machina - Movie Review

What 'Ex Machina' succeeds at is making tension in its snail-paced scenes. For the very beginning, we are not sure of what and how these characters will interact and there's something off about it. We don't know every one's intentions but once we learn about it, the film just starts pumping and pumping, but i'm not sure everything about it works.

For the first 30 minutes or so, not really much is happening but set-up to the next scene. And it's a continuous process that felt like its driving the movie down. As a slow-burner of a movie this is, these set-ups could've been more pact despite being filled with mystery and suspense.

The entire third act is unfortunately cliched, and you can already point out the things what the three main characters, played by Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander and Domhnall Gleeson, are planning for the big moments. There were real shocking bits on the minutes that are very well-made, and one scene in particular was done in a way wherein you became unsure of the characters you want to root for.

Isaac, Vikander, and Gleeson are unsurprisingly great in this movie. Vikander is a stand-out here, as you can feel her becoming more and more human as a artificial-intelligence robot with each scene, and you start to also invest feelings to her the same way Gleeson's character does.

'Ex Machina' is definitely not a film for everyone. It has that formula that is likely to get better and better on every viewing, but my experience here isn't that much a great one. The set-ups could have been better, performances are terrific, but the ending though, is uneven. But the filmmakers managing to create tension out of three characters is plausible.

The geek rates it 7/10!